Israel lodged a strong protest with the UN Security Council over the Hamas missile-mortar attack and attempted kidnap of another Israeli soldier. debkafile's military sources report the only indication that Hamas was ready for a ground incursion was the heavy direct fire directed at the Israeli positions clustered on the Israel-Gaza crossing at Kerem Shalom.

Ten mortar shells struck Sderot's Hadar district by 8:30 a.m. local time; 6 Qassam missiles exploded in other parts of the W. Negev up to Ashkelon causing damage but no casualties. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida: "This is a message to the Zionist enemy that our strikes will continue. We have the means and we hold Gilead Shalit."debkafile's military sources report: Hamas' strategic decision to go back to its missile, terror and suicide operations was taken after the organization, which dominates Palestinian government, judged its stockpile of ordnance sufficient to sustain a heavy blitz of Israel's towns and villages.

The threat, issued Sat. April 21, is in response to Israel's refusal to bow to the terms for releasing the Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit and BBC correspondent Alan Johnston. Israeli security sources: Lacking networks outside the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Hamas is expected to employ the extensive Lebanese Hizballah covert infrastructure which branches out across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, for its threatened kidnap offensive abroad. In the next 24 hours, Palestinian spokesmen plan to release another false bulletin purporting progress in the negotiations for the release of Gilead Shalit. debkafile's sources stress that these bulletins are fabricated deliberately to deceive.

The gunman opened fire on the Israeli car at the north Jerusalem Hizmeh checkpoint and made off on foot. Two Qassam missiles were fired from the Gaza Strip Sunday, the day after a direct hit on their home left six Israelis injured in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. It was one of four fired that day.

Two belonged to Fatah-Al Aqsa Brigades, one Jihad Islami. They had joined forces for the attack outside the northern West Bank town.In an earlier incident near Jenin Saturday, an IDF force killed a Palestinian rooftop sniper shooting at their patrol. Three bombs were hurled first. There were no Israel casualties in either incident.

A Palestinian Jihad Islami operative was killed. The three Palestinian missiles damaged a home in Sderot and injured its occupants. A fourth missile from Gaza Saturday night exploded near Netiv Ha'Asara to the north

The Palestinian Jihad Islami boasted Sunday, April 15, to have already tested a two-stage missile Al Quds-3 (Qassam) with new engine and warhead and attained a range of 18 km. The extremist group claimed to have amassed sufficient stocks in the Gaza Strip to fire dozens of missiles a day for a whole year against neighboring Israeli locations.

The protest by Palestinian journalists took place outside the Palestinian parliament in Gaza Tuesday, April 17. The BBC reporter has been missing for five weeks since Palestinian gunmen seized him. There has been no word on his fate except for an unverified claim by an al Qaeda-linked Palestinian group that he had been killed.

In a combined operation, the Shin Bet and IDF rounded up in the West Bank town of Qalqilya 19 members of a Hamas network which managed to send a truck loaded with 100 kilos of explosives into Greater Tel Aviv on Passover Eve. For some unknown reason, the truck, which was to have kicked off the resumed Hamas suicide offensive, turned back and was accidentally detonated in the West Bank.

The incident occurred when Israeli troops on counter-terror patrol encountered a group of Palestinians about to plant an explosive device in their path. Both began shooting.In northern Gaza, a band of terrorists was attacked by an Israeli helicopter as they planted an explosive devoice on the Israeli border fence. The Palestinians report one death. Egypt criticized Israel for the attack. During the informal six-month ceasefire, the Palestinians have planted 40 of these devices.

Hamas has handed Egyptian mediators a list of Palestinian prisoners demanded in exchange for Gilead Shalit, who was seized on the Israeli side of the Gaza border by Palestinian gunmen ten months ago. The Palestinian unity government leaders Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh need to save face after repeatedly falling down on public promises to secure the Israeli soldier's release and open the door to talks with Israel. So Abbas and Haniyeh have turned their loss of face against Israel.

Islam provides the only solution to the conflict and until it is achieved, armed resistance will continue. Engagement with Israel is a means not an end. There can be no compromise on the refugee question. The PLO, the Hamas leader declared, has no authority to represent the Palestinian people.

These words were spoken 24 hours before the Saudi peace plan was presented to the Arab League summit in Riyadh and Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh takes his seat alongside Mahmoud Abbas at the head of the Palestinian delegation.

Ten days ago, BBC correspondent Alan Johnston was seized by armed men in Gaza (March 12), nine months after Hamas-led Palestinian raiders snatched Israeli corporal Gilead Shalit.Our counter-terror sources disclose that Montaz Durmush, leader of the Army of Islam (Al Qaeda-Palestine), which is holding both hostages, is using the British journalist as a tool to drive up the price demanded of Israel for Shalit's freedom.

Israeli soldiers and Palestinians exchanged fire after the attack and the border crossing was shut down. The injured man was an electricity company worker who was carrying out repairs on the fuel depot, which supplies the Palestinians population of the Gaza Strip. debkafile adds: Regardless of the fuel shortages that now threaten the Palestinian populace, Hamas is determined to show the world that its "resistance" operations against Israel will continue under the new unity government.

The transport ministry in Jerusalem warned the farmers Sunday, March 18, that the Palestinians had recently smuggled shoulder-borne SA-7 anti-air missiles into the Gaza strip. They ordered an immediate halt to aerial crop-spraying near the territory following an Israeli army caution.

Mahmoud Abbas urged an end of the world boycott against the Palestinian government although Middle East Quartet conditions are ignored in its platform. The unity government he has launched with Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh won a vote of confidence at the Palestinian legislative council Saturday, March 17. The US and European governments have already set up contacts. Norway was the first Western goernment to re-establish political and economic ties.

No one was injured. John Ging, director of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza had just crossed the border from Israel when his convoy was blocked by some 50 armed gunmen. They failed to open the door of his armored car. As it escaped, they riddled the vehicle with fourteen bullets. debkafile's counter-terror sources report this was a failed attempt by Qaeda-Palestine to take the UN official hostage.